“For My Own Amusement”

I’ve finished up the series of four pieces made from a stitched indigo sampler.  See numbers one and two here.  And numbers three and four below.

"For My Own Amusement." Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

"For My Own Amusement." Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I love the art paper with the circles, above.

"For My Own Amusement." Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

"For My Own Amusement." Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Piece #2 includes a bit of a dictionary page with the word “amusement” defined.  Since I was doing these just for fun, I thought I could use that word as part of my title.  It came to me very quickly:
“For My Own Amusement, #1-4.”

I like the way the four pieces look together.  What do you think?

"For My Own Amusement." Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Ellen Lindner

14

Orange and Blue Collages

What Next? Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

After deciding to use an indigo sampler as the starting point for the next set of collages, I had to decide what other colors to put with it.  Maybe the complementary color, orange?  But, I didn’t want the orange to take over.  I wanted the indigo to be the star.  So, maybe just lighter blues and whites?  Or, maybe some of both?  I decided on the latter and gathered my materials, both fabric and paper.

Here’s the first one, very early on.

Orange and Blue Collages. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The horizontal rust fabric is ultra suede.  The shiny bit of paper is the back side of a piece of used foiling paper.  I got as far as hand stitching it, but later removed it altogether.

Perhaps you can see the circular motif on the white fabric.  It became the pattern for later hand stitching.

Orange and Blue Collages. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Here it is, completed.

Orange and Blue Collages. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Pretty simple, but I like it.

For the second one, I included a bit of a torn dictionary page.  It shows the definition of “amusement.”

Orange and Blue Collages. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And, as with the first collage series, my great grandmother’s crocheted tablecloth also made an appearance.  I love the texture it brings.

I’ve made two more in this series, which I’ll show you in the next post.

(Got any UFOs you need to cut up?)

Ellen Lindner

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What Next?

After successfully cutting up a UFO (unfinished object) and using it as the starting point for some little collages, I was anxious to do it again.  The question was “Which UFO do I use?”  Because, well, I have more than one.

Maybe I could do something with this partially constructed prickly pear.

What Next? Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Or with this painted mountain scene.

What Next? Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

This one actually intrigued me enough to experiment it with it a bit more.  I used Neocolor wax pastels and Inktense blocks to kick up the color saturation.

What Next? Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

 (Boy, the Inktense has WAY more pigment than the wax pastels.)

Or, maybe I should do something with this colorful swirly collage.  It’s certainly bright and appealing.

What Next? Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

(It’s made from sewing on raw edged strips.  The strips are the byproduct from cutting fat quarters.  My local quilt shop sells bags of them.)

Or, here’s another use of those strips.  Knitting!

What Next? Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

A closer look:

What Next? Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

As you can see, I have no shortage of unusual UFOs!  Any one of them had lots of possibilities.

Finally, however, I decided to work with this indigo sampler.

What Next? Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It was given to me years ago, by the gal who  made it in a class.  Isn’t it wonderful?  All the patterns were created with stitching.  Once stitched, these tight spots resisted the dye, creating very interesting effects.

I used this piece once before, so it was was already hand stitched.  (That first quilt was a dud, so I removed this part and saved it.)

Stay tuned to see what I do with this.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. Now I have a reason for saving UFOs!  Have you got any weird ones?
P.P.S.  I’ve lost my enthusiasm for the top two pieces: the prickly pear and the mountain scene.  If you’d like one of them, just let me know and I’ll send it to you, (if you live in the US.)  If you want one, I hope you’ll DO something to it!

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Revamping Artificial Flowers

I have a white “silk” orchid that was very realistic looking when I purchased it several years ago.  Over time, however, it has yellowed badly.

Revamping Artificial Flowers. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Revamping Artificial Flowers. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I considered several ideas about how to best revamp these pretty petals.  Eventually, I decided just to paint them, with ordinary acrylic paint.

Revamping Artificial Flowers. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

This worked well.  I left the fiddly centers yellow and was happy with the results.

Revamping Artificial Flowers. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Revamping Artificial Flowers. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Not bad, right?  No one’s going to think they’re real, but they’re definitely pretty.

What have you painted lately?

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  What I really wanted to do was to decoupage black and white fabrics onto the petals.  It only took a little experimenting to realize that would be too difficult.  But if I ever create some from scratch?  Who knows.

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Some Eye Candy

Here are some interesting links for your enjoyment.

First, a gallery of wonderful quilts made by  the Front Range Contemporary Quilters.  You’ll love them!

AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Ova Nova, an art quilt by Louisa Smith

Next, check out the beautiful and subtle work of Cas Holmes.

AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Textile installation by Cas Holmes

Finally, something a little different:  painted pebbles.  I was intrigued by these because some of them looked almost like they were embroidered.  They reminded me of fabric cookies.   Wouldn’t they be fun to reproduce with some felt scraps?

AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And there you go: just some of the sites I’ve enjoyed recently.

Ellen Lindner

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“Fragrant Climb” Complete

Here’s my challenge piece, complete.  I call it Fragrant Climb.

Fragrant Climb, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

Fragrant Climb

Detail:

Fragrant Climb - detail, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

In a nod to the small flowers near the stairs in the inspiration photo, I drew on additional open-petal ones (above.)  I liked the effect and will use it again.

I’m pretty happy with this piece.  Especially since I wasn’t that crazy about the inspiration photo.  But, then, that’s why it’s called a challenge, right?

I encourage you to view a slide show showing all ten pieces made for this challenge.

Ellen Lindner

7

Welcome to Provence – Part Two

Once I had the background and leaves finished, it was time to focus on the flowers.  First, I auditioned fabrics.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I had quite a big selection of fabrics to choose from, so it was easy to use a different fabric for each petal.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Next, I started adding white flowers with open petals.  I love these and I’ve been using them a lot lately.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

They add a nice “variety of scale,” don’t you think?

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I stitched them on with contrasting orange thread.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The inspiration photo had a lot of small flowers at the bottom left of the stairs.  I gave them an artistic nod with a variety of orange circles.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Finishing touches in the next post!

Ellen Lindner

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Welcome to Provence

Every so often my small art quilt group, Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists, likes to have a group challenge.  Frequently, we use a photograph as our starting point.  We select something with lots going on so different people can respond to different elements.

This is the photo we selected for our recent challenge, “Welcome to Provence.”

Welcome to Provence inspiration photo. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

As you can see, it provides a lot to work with.  I was intrigued by the worn spots in the centers of each step.  I decided to feature them and to include lots of foliage, as well.

Of course, I couldn’t do it in realistic colors!  The gray and tan just didn’t excite me, so I changed things up.  This was my computer sketch.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I got to work on the steps.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

There were lots of pins involved.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And, eventually, glue.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Next came the background, in-progress below.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Once the background was complete, I quilted the entire piece.  This avoided lots of stopping and starting with the quilting later, since I knew some places would be largely covered with yet-to-be-added items.

Next, it was time to audition fabrics and shapes for the large leaves.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I was happy with the veining technique I used on the leaves: simply cutting the leaves into sections.  The gaps served as veins.

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Welcome to Provence. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Soon, the background and leaves were complete and it was time to tackle flowers.  I’ll show you that in the next post.

Ellen Lindner

 

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EBooks Available as Downloads

Woohoo!  I’m so delighted to finally have my eBooks available as immediate downloads.

One is called Personal Workshop: Adventures in Color.   

Adventures in Color e-book by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

It’s jam packed with information: 64 content pages, plus another 22 workbook pages.  As the name implies, it’s set up as a personal workshop. There are several pages of information and examples, followed by workbook assignments.  Exactly like I would teach it in a live class.  If you work through the exercises, you’ll MASTER most of the concepts.

See an excerpt here

At only $9.95, this book is a great bargain and an excellent resource.

Full Details

The second eBook is called Personal Workshop: Double Reverse Appliqué™.  

Double Reverse Applique e-book by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

Check out the killer project included in this book! This raw edged appliqué technique is extremely easy and accurate AND very popular with my students.  Again, the book is set up like a class with exercises.  It also includes a section on creating your own patterns.

See a gallery of Double Reverse Appliqué quilts

Only $9.95

Full Details

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The Project that Wasn’t

Have you ever lost steam on a project part way through?  This happened to me recently, only I lost interest before I even got started.

After the FUN and success of Bush Berries, I was excited to try another “cut and paste” design.  I started with this photo of a Flame Vine.

Pretty awesome, right?  I decided to cut it into squares, as I had done before and to rearrange the sections.  9 pieces, perhaps?

The Project that Wasn't. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Or, maybe just six.

The Project that Wasn't. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I preferred the six-block option and traced the main lines to get a pattern.

The Project that Wasn't. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

The Project that Wasn't. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It looked a little hodge-podge at this point, so I colored in the values, to see if it looked better.

The Project that Wasn't. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And, indeed, it did.  As a matter of fact, I thought it looked like a pretty good abstract design.  But, I realized that it no longer depicted the heavy hanging blossoms of the original photo.  And I missed that.

So, I’ve put it aside in lieu of the next thing.
Did I waste my time?  Absolutely not!

As a matter of fact, this time spent designing will help me to be more creative the next time.  And besides, it was fun.  It’s quite possible that I’ll revisit this sketch one day.  Or maybe start again with the same photo and go in a different direction.  No worries.  It’s all part of experimenting.

Have you ever stalled out mid-project?  What are your thoughts on it?  Did you learn something anyway?  (I’ll bet you did.)

Ellen Lindner

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